Large commodity index funds, called managed money, sold a large percentage of their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday, while commercial traders, or cattle owners, covered a portion of their total net short position.
The data came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday.
MANAGED MONEY SELLS CATTLE
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live cattle position of 37,891 contracts, down 18,463, or 32.8%, from 56,354 a week earlier. It was their smallest position since Oct. 18, 2022, when it was 36,026 contracts.
Commercial traders had a total net short position Tuesday of 94,040 contracts, down 7,361, or 7.26%, from 101,401 a week earlier. It was their smallest net short position since Oct. 18, 2022, when it was 93,360 contracts.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new position by liquidating 16,076 long positions, adding 2,387 short positions and putting on 2,191 spread positions. This left them in control of 18.8% of total long open interest, 5.5% of total short open interest and 19.4% of total spread open interest.
Commercial traders got to where they were by adding 1,216 long positions and covering 6,145 short positions, leaving them holding 15.7% of total long open interest and 48.8% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total live cattle open interest Tuesday was 286,757 contracts, down 10,711, or 3.60%, from 297,468 a week earlier.
CME data also showed that the most-active Feb live cattle contract rose in value during the week ended Tuesday, settling at $186.87 per cwt, compared with $178.42 a week earlier. In between, it hit a low of $173.65 on Nov. 10.
MANAGED MONEY COVERS CORN SHORTS
As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net short position of 174,643 contracts, down 1,422, or 0.81%, from 176,065 a week earlier.
At the same time, commercials had a total net short position of 55,967 contracts, up 2,157, or 4.01%, from 53,810 a week earlier.
The CFTC said managed money arrived at their new corn position by adding 11,128 long positions, 9,706 short positions and 2,680 spread positions. This left them with 11.3% of total long open interest, 14.4% of total short open interest and 14.4% of total spread open interest.
Commercials got to where they were Tuesday by adding 4,453 long positions and 6,618 short positions, leaving them with 31.8% of total long open interest and 35.7% of total short open interest.
The CME Group said total corn open interest Tuesday was 1.457 million contracts, up from 1.427 million a week earlier.
The most-active Mar contract settled Tuesday at $4.94 ¼ a bushel, compared with $4.83 ½ a week earlier.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers last week ranged from $178.00 per cwt to $186.00, compared with the previous week’s range of $180.60 to $187.95 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $283.24 per cwt to $292.15, compared with $290.71 to $293.89.
The USDA choice cutout Friday was down $0.85 per cwt at $293.87 while select was up $3.05 at $270.70. The choice/select spread narrowed to $23.17 from $27.07 with 67 loads of fabricated product and 17 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.35 to $1.40 a bushel over the Dec corn contract, which settled at $4.67 a bushel, down $0.07 3/4.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Thursday was $228.54 per cwt, down $0.12. This compares with Friday’s Nov contract settlement of $228.64, down $0.73.